You're not alone on the correlation. I've often held mental comparisons
between the two (but not Bognosian at all, oddly enough). The sardonic wit
is one thing, but also the confessional style of their work -- granted,
Joe's is a little more fictional than Gray's was -- seemed to strike the
same chord in me.
There is an abundance of material on the last few and highly unfortunate
years of Gray's life. Essentially, he had a horrific car accident in Ireland
a few years ago, and even after recovering he seemed to never regain his
equilibrium -- that, and other events, seemed to tip the stable/depressed
balance that made his mind so intriguing firmly into the depressive side,
and from there it was a downward slide, a rally, and a final plunge.
Lots of other factors involved as well, of course. But that seems to have
been it in broad strokes. A sad end to such a gifted life.
- Matt Shepherd
http://www.man-man.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phares Gonzales" <bluenile at sbcglobal.net>
To: <joe-frank-list at armory.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 5:04 PM
Subject: [joe-frank-list] Re: Joe Frank Converts
> I guess I see a corelation that others do not. I just naturally assumed
that
> if monologists were a persons thing, they would be aware of both artists.
I
> think people who appreciate Spaldings sardonic wit would have no problem
> understanding or appreciating Joe Franks, thus I stick JF cd's into their
> hands whenever possible.
>> Secondly, I don't mean to belittle or neglect the tragic death of Spalding
> Gray. The events leading to his decision to commit suicide were intriguing
> and I was wondering if anyone had more information about this.
>> Third, it was through this forum that I found out about Spalding's death
in
> the first place. So I don't think that I am the only person who associates
> these two artists with one another.
>> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <joe-frank-list-request at armory.com>
> To: <joe-frank-list at armory.com>
> Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 12:45 PM
> Subject: joe-frank-list Digest, Vol 10, Issue 6
>>> > Send joe-frank-list mailing list submissions to
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> > than "Re: Contents of joe-frank-list digest..."
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> >
> > 1. Trying to Make Converts (Phares Gonzales)
> > 2. Re: Trying to Make Converts (Manuel Cabrera Jr.)
> > 3. Re: Trying to Make Converts (innadadadavida at yahoo.com)
> > 4. Sandra Tsing Loh (was Re: Joe Frank on WFMU)
> > (innadadadavida at yahoo.com)
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 16:10:28 -0800
> > From: "Phares Gonzales" <bluenile at sbcglobal.net>
> > Subject: [joe-frank-list] Trying to Make Converts
> > To: <joe-frank-list at armory.com>
> > Message-ID: <008901c40c7d$6c2f6ff0$0201a8c0 at smartcarusa.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > Since the death of Spalding Gray, I have had a chance to see just how
many
> people were followers of his work. I am surprised to see that they are not
> as familiar with Joe's works. I am loaning them copies of Joe that I made
> from the radio since 1989 and hope to generate a broader interest in Los
> Angeles again. I think we need to do more to get the word of Joe out to
the
> people.
> >
> > On the subject of Spalding Gray, who is familiar with the incidences
> leading up to his suicide? I feel like the world seems a little more empty
> knowing that he isn't musing over it. I want to talk and talk about it
until
> this feeling at the pit of my stomache goes away.
> > -------------- next part --------------
> > An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> > URL:
>http://www.armory.com/pipermail/joe-frank-list/attachments/20040317/546f911d/attachment-0001.htm
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 23:03:14 -0800
> > From: "Manuel Cabrera Jr." <semiote at earthlink.net>
> > Subject: Re: [joe-frank-list] Trying to Make Converts
> > To: "Joe Frank Mailing List" <joe-frank-list at armory.com>
> > Message-ID: <00ad01c40cb7$160e9760$34e1e8a9 at UCLAWLAN>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > Forgive my ignorance, but what is the connection between Spalding
Gray
> and Joe Frank? Was he on the show? What episodes? Who did he play?
> >
> > Mandel
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Phares Gonzales
> > To: joe-frank-list at armory.com> > Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 4:10 PM
> > Subject: [joe-frank-list] Trying to Make Converts
> >
> >
> > Since the death of Spalding Gray, I have had a chance to see just how
> many people were followers of his work. I am surprised to see that they
are
> not as familiar with Joe's works. I am loaning them copies of Joe that I
> made from the radio since 1989 and hope to generate a broader interest in
> Los Angeles again. I think we need to do more to get the word of Joe out
to
> the people.
> >
> > On the subject of Spalding Gray, who is familiar with the incidences
> leading up to his suicide? I feel like the world seems a little more empty
> knowing that he isn't musing over it. I want to talk and talk about it
until
> this feeling at the pit of my stomache goes away.
> >
> >
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Joe Frank Mailing List
> > joe-frank-list at armory.com> > http://www.armory.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/joe-frank-list> > -------------- next part --------------
> > An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> > URL:
>http://www.armory.com/pipermail/joe-frank-list/attachments/20040317/e3449ceb/attachment-0001.htm
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 04:40:10 -0800 (PST)
> > From: "innadadadavida at yahoo.com" <innadadadavida at yahoo.com>
> > Subject: [joe-frank-list] Re: Trying to Make Converts
> > To: joe-frank-list at armory.com> > Message-ID: <20040318124010.43162.qmail at web41603.mail.yahoo.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> >
> > None that I know of other than they're both monologists who would appeal
> to
> > similar audiences.
> >
> > I'm very sad for his family.
> >
> > [Q "What do you think about other major monologists and performance
> artists
> > such as Eric Bogosian and Spaulding Gray?"
> > JF "I think they are very good at what they do. They do what they do and
I
> do
> > what I do."
> > Q "Do you have any sort of dialogue with any of them?"
> > JF "No."
> > ]
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Manuel Cabrera Jr.
> >
> > Forgive my ignorance, but what is the connection between Spalding Gray
and
> > Joe Frank? Was he on the show? What episodes? Who did he play?
> >
> > Mandel
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Phares Gonzales
> >
> > Since the death of Spalding Gray, I have had a chance to see just how
> many
> > people were followers of his work. I am surprised to see that they are
not
> as
> > familiar with Joe's works. I am loaning them copies of Joe that I made
> from
> > the radio since 1989 and hope to generate a broader interest in Los
> Angeles
> > again. I think we need to do more to get the word of Joe out to the
> people.
> >
> > On the subject of Spalding Gray, who is familiar with the incidences
> > leading up to his suicide? I feel like the world seems a little more
empty
> > knowing that he isn't musing over it. I want to talk and talk about it
> until
> > this feeling at the pit of my stomache goes away.
> >
> > __________________________________
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam
> > http://mail.yahoo.com> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 4
> > Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 04:51:58 -0800 (PST)
> > From: "innadadadavida at yahoo.com" <innadadadavida at yahoo.com>
> > Subject: [joe-frank-list] Sandra Tsing Loh (was Re: Joe Frank on WFMU)
> > To: joe-frank-list at armory.com> > Message-ID: <20040318125158.45260.qmail at web41613.mail.yahoo.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> >
> > >funny coincidence?
> > >i just read that Sandra Tsing Loh just got kicked off
> > >the air at KCRW too
> >
> > One of Joe Frank's inner circle once posted here promising details of
the
> > circumstances around his being kicked off KCRW; we didn't ever get that,
> but
> > it wouldn't surprise me if it concerned his 'offensive' content (there
was
> > that recording on one of his programs of Seymour chastizing him about
his
> > language.)
> >
> > Anyway, Loh's sacking is a minor cause celebre --
> > their joint statement: <http://www.kcrw.com/show/ll>
> > Loh's Time piece:
> > <http://www.time.com/time/nation/printout/0,8816,601645,00.html>
> >
> > One might not want to shed a tear at Howard Stern's troubles, but our
> > retrograde society's kulturkampf claims other victims.
> >
> > "I've seen the future and it is John Tesh. . . music. Pre-recorded."
> >
> > __________________________________
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam
> > http://mail.yahoo.com> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Joe Frank Mailing List
> > joe-frank-list at armory.com> > http://www.armory.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/joe-frank-list> >
> >
> > End of joe-frank-list Digest, Vol 10, Issue 6
> > *********************************************
>> _______________________________________________
> Joe Frank Mailing List
>joe-frank-list at armory.com>http://www.armory.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/joe-frank-list>